Another week passed in D-III Women’s hockey on the western side of things. No surprises or huge game results unlike last week, however, this week will be huge for some west teams and these games will certainly influence the polls/pairwise standings. Meanwhile, the NCHA conference is showing its strength, boasting three-ranked teams who have a combined overall record of 27-2-3 and are outscoring opponents by a combined total of 163-29… Impressive numbers.
Gustavus stays perfect
Gustavus has earned themselves the #1 ranking in the polls for the second straight week as they hold a perfect 10-0 record after the weekend sweep of Saint Mary’s. The only other remaining undefeated teams are #3 Adrian (9-0) & #7 Colby (5-0). In the two wins over Saint Mary’s, the Gusties seemed to not have many struggles, winning 4-0 & 3-0, goaltender Katie McCoy making 25 saves over the two games, earning two shutout victories. Brooke Power (1 goal, 2 assists) & Brooke Remmington (3 assists) led the way for Gustavus with three points apiece.
Currently, Gustavus is outscoring their opponents 46-4, winning six of their ten games via shutout. They’ll be given their first real test this season in terms of opponent strength as they face #2 UW-River Falls in a home-and-away series this week on Wed. Dec. 7 at 7:05pm (at River-Falls) & Sat. Dec. 10 at 2pm CT (at Gustavus).
It will be interesting to see these two teams face off as their RPI numbers (ratings percentage index) are very similar with Gustavus holding the top spot for obvious reasons, but River-Falls has been tested more to start the season. Gustavus has played one opponent who’s been ranked at one point in time this season, Augsburg (5-4-1). Whilst UWRF has played four, and won three of four, (Augsburg 5-4-1, UW-Eau Claire 7-2-0, Plattsburgh State 9-2, & Middlebury 4-3) their only loss coming on opening night to Augsburg, they’ve been unbeaten since.
These two games this week will tell us more about Gustavus than it does UW-River Falls. River-Falls has proven they can beat anyone after winning games against the former #1, #3, & #8 ranked teams, while Gustavus hasn’t shown us their skills yet against a team ranked higher than #13 based on how their schedule has panned out so far.
St. Norbert keeps rolling
#15 St. Norbert (9-1-2), are unbeaten in their last 10 games (8-0-2) and unbeaten in NCHA league play (6-0-0), leading top competitors in Aurora (5-0-1) & Adrian (4-0-0). Most recently, Norbert won a pair of games vs fellow NCHA opponent Concordia Wisconsin 3-0 & 5-1. Goaltender Brynn Waismann recorded two wins, making a combined total of 33 saves. Other leaders for the Green Knights were Natalie Hogan (4 goals, 1 assist), Morgan Olson (4 assists), and Courtnie Hogan (2 goals, 1 assist). In their last seven games, they’ve outscored opponents 45-2.
St. Norbert’s upcoming schedule is an interesting one, they visit Augsburg Dec. 10 and then they fly to Tempe, Arizona to play two exhibition games vs Arizona State University (ACHA-D1). ASU goaltending & mental performance coach Kaley Marino is a St. Norbert College alumnus where she played four years and was a team captain for two. They then have two huge series of games after that vs UW-Eau Claire & Aurora.
Aurora’s dominating
Aurora is another NCHA team who’s continuing to stay on track after their hot start to the season, they’re now #12 with a 9-1-1 record. They’ve outscored their opponents this season 62-9. Currently, the NCHA has three-ranked teams in it, consisting of #3 Adrian, #12 Aurora, & #15 St. Norbert, so this means the league games and conference tournament will be very interesting. Surprisingly enough, their only loss came to Bethel, who’s currently 1-7.
This past weekend, the Spartans won both games vs Lawrence University 5-0 & 11-1. It’s worth noting that despite the 5-0 loss for Lawrence, goaltender Charlie Prior had a great game, making 56 saves. The leaders for Aurora were: Darci Matson (3 goals, 4 assists), Madison Gasper (3 goals, 1 assist) & Peyton Elliott who had a hat-trick in game-two.
Aurora has a long layoff, they don’t play another game until January 7/8 in a two-game home series vs Northland College. They’re then given their biggest challenge yet in St. Norbert, a two-game home series January 12/13.
Other Notable Results
#10 UW-Eau Claire shutout Northland 6-0, Hallie Sheridan led the way with 1 goal & 2 assists, while goaltender Stephanie Martin had a relatively easy night, needing to make only six saves in the shutout victory.
Trine swept Marian, winning both games 4-3, getting their first two wins of the season.
Hamline swept Concordia Minnesota, winning 4-3 OT & 2-0.
Augsburg swept St. Olaf, winning 2-0 & 6-0.
Looking Ahead
Besides the #1 vs #2 matchup we have this week between Gustavus and UW-River Falls, #3 Adrian will be put to their biggest test as of yet. They will be making the 12-hour drive to Northfield, VT for the Norwich East-West Hockey Classic where they face #5 Norwich in game one, and will either face #4 Plattsburgh or #8 Elmira depending on the results of both games. Adrian’s biggest tests have come so far vs #14 Oswego State (8-4) and Augsburg (5-4-1) who they beat handily, only allowing one goal in the four games. All three teams in this tournament besides Adrian have played top-5/top-10 competition, so it’ll be interesting to see how Adrian fares. This is similar to the UW-River Falls vs Gustavus matchup in terms of we’ve seen UWRF play top tier opponents unlike Gustavus who hasn’t faced a team inside the top-12, Adrian enters with the least amount of games played vs top-10 opponents in this tournament, but hold the highest ranking at #3. This will be a great tournament to focus on to see how they fare.
After a relatively quiet week out west, we now return with plenty of enticing matchups to follow and keep our eyes on. Many games this week may hold implications later on this season in terms of NCAA Tournament At-Large bids due to some conferences having a plethora of ranked talent within them. Should be another great week!
